As this ritual is performed each year, I learn something new every time. I learn from watching my mother slice the cucumbers or cook the tomatos. Or having her tell me the best way to peel the peaches. At my young age, going through this process was simply habitual and something to expect, I understood the "how" of canning, but not yet the "why." As I grew though, I began to realize more the "why" part of the procedure. We did it to build up our food storage, and preserve our food.
Looking into the history of canning and bottling, some reasons my family has for our actions remains the same throughout history. In reading more of the history, canning and bottling came about in the early 1800's when the French were trying to find an effective way to preserve food in order to feed their armies. The government offered and award of 12,000 francs to whoever invented the said method. Nicholas Appert then discovered a way to preserve food by placing the food in an air tight jar with and unbroken seal to prevent the growing of bacteria. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canning)
As time progressed, so did the quality of canning and bottling. Households and factories started to create more effective ways of preserving food. And it all stemmed from the basis idea of Nicholas Appert. Those who watched him create this preserving method continued it and found ways to improve the system, which then created a chain reaction that lead us all the way to canned goods that can be bought in a grocery with a shelving date that may outlive us.It is always interesting to see the progression of ideas and inventions that stem from necessity. Because there was a need, someone found a way to create and from there, others found ways to constantly be passing on the information and constantly improving the way canning and preserving is done. As I grow up and have kids, I hope to pass along the knowledge that I have learned from my mom about canning and preserving food and maybe even improve the way that I carry out the work. It is a folk knowledge that didn't just start from my mom, but from a man in the 1800's who saw a need and addressed it.
gardening and canning was also a big part of my family when i was younger. i found that it was something that did more to change my tastes than anything else. i still can't find applesauce or relish i like in stores, 'cause no one does it like mom. but i think this is an interesting tie with one of the things Dr. Petersen mentioned in class today - the debate between thinking shaping language and language shaping thinking. i think alot of times,whether it's how to prepare pickles or how to deal with challenges, the folk knowledges we are taught shape the way we live our lives and the way we think about the world.
ReplyDeleteIn ancient times, it seems like knowledge flowed steadily from generation to generation. It feels like nowadays the sheer volume of available knowledge and our cultural tendencies towards the new, shiny, and profitable lead us to perhaps neglect the simpler, weightier matters--even if they come in mason jars.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it be great if we could preserve knowledge like we do peaches and jam? We could just add some sort of preserving agent and DONE! The knowledge could outlast us---untouched. But would that be good? What if the knowledge was untouchable? Just a side note. . .
ReplyDeleteWhat I really liked about this is that you said when you were younger the purposes of preserving were rather unimportant, it was just fun. But then you got older and you came to understand the why. It probably didn't lose any of the fun, but you think of canning in a different way now than as a child. Could learning the father tongue about canning ruin your original impression of canning? It makes me think of the father tongue vs. mother tongue and sophic and mantic: Does learning the father tongue cause the mother tongue to lose its innocence? Does first learning the mantic and then learning the sophic cause the knowledge to lose its somewhat innocent or natural (maternal?) quality? The reason why canning changed is because you first learned canning through folk knowledge (mother tongue) and then grew to understand its practical purposes. It was no longer "We preserve because mom says we should and it's fun!" but "We can because we must preserve food in case of emergencies. Oh, and it's fun." The innocence of the folk knowledge takes a back seat to the practical father tongue. In like manner, mantic knowledge is removed from its inspired level to a completely logical sophisticated field. I think maybe LeGuin also exemplified this dichotomy in her address. She mentioned how putting knowledge into the father tongue is "intellectual abortion." Dr. Peterson explained how the paternal (pattern) causes changes in the maternal (material).
Crista - glad you are grounding the topic in personal experience. I would like to see you push beyond wikipedia entries, though, for historical sources. It's okay to start there; just don't end up there.
ReplyDeleteSome really good comments extending this topic from Crista. Ted, though your comment is a bit long, it's very good at trying to apply the mantic / sophic ideas we've been studying. Jon, I like the way you are comparing types of knowledge and how we may be forgetting fundamental types.